WASHINGTON (AP) — Google Maps wasn’t waiting for the Senate. While lawmakers debated a proposal to rename a building after the late Sen. John…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Google Maps wasn’t waiting for the Senate.
While lawmakers debated a proposal to rename a building after the late Sen. John McCain, Google Maps displayed «McCain Senate Office Building» on its website for several hours Wednesday.
A search for «Russell Senate Office Building» directed users to the same building. The error was fixed later Wednesday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N. Y., proposed renaming the Russell building in McCain’s honor after the Arizona Republican died Saturday from brain cancer. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he’ll form a bipartisan panel to solicit ideas on ways to honor McCain.
Google said in a statement Wednesday that it empowers people to contribute local knowledge to its maps, «but we recognize that there may be occasional inaccuracies or premature changes suggested by users.»
It was not clear how the error occurred.
The mix-up comes as President Donald Trump has accused Google and other U. S. tech companies of rigging search results about him «so that almost all stories & news is BAD.» Trump offered no evidence of bias, but a top adviser said the White House is «taking a look» at whether Google should face federal regulation.
On Wednesday, Trump reiterated his complaints, telling reporters he thinks Google, Facebook and Twitter «treat conservatives and Republicans very unfairly.»
«I think it’s a very serious problem because they’re really trying to silence a very large part of this country and those people don’t want to be silenced,» Trump said.
But when asked whether he wants to see new federal regulations imposed on the companies, Trump, who often brags of his record slashing federal regulations, said that wasn’t what he’s after.
«You know what we want? Not regulation. We want fairness. When we have fairness we’re all very happy,» he said.
Google has pushed back sharply on Trump’s claims.
«We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment,» the company said in a statement.
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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
